Enthusiasm: The infectious motivator

April 18, 2011

I read an article recently on a guy who wore hats into his corporate meetings. Not just your average, every day, hats mind you, but sombreros, chiquita-hats, big red hats, baseball caps, anything to get attention. These hats were used as props in his speech to get his audience thinking about various topics, and actually he used them as a catalyst for exercises on perspective.

While entertaining, the article reminded me of the power there is in a leader who is enthusiastic about their goal. It is like a coach on a football field at halftime telling the team that’s down by 10 points that there is hope left in this game! The “Here we go, boys!” speech that inspires a group of exhausted teenagers to push on and win under difficult circumstances.

Enthusiam from a leader compelled fighters to sign up to be a part of Doolittle’s Raid. Why am I mentioning all these seemingly random events on enthusiasm? Well, think about it: If an enthusiastic leader excited about the end result can motivate people into action depsite impossible odds and dire circumstances, then imagine how much is possible if we bring enthusiasm into our coporate projects as well!

The sombrero idea is a great one, but maybe that’s not really your thing. That’s ok. Simply communicating verbally how excited you personally are about a project to the people you have working on your team can do amazing things to boost morale, encourage individuals, as well as motivate your team to give their best work. Maybe you can write the goal in huge letters on the white board everyone walks past in the morning to remind them of why they are giving all this effort, and why the effort matters.

Whatever you do to show your enthusiasm about a project, your commitment and drive will be infectious to your team, creating a work environment where anything is possible, and the work produced is at its’ very best. In fact, by showing off your enthusiasm, your team will actually begin to hold themselves to a higher standard of performance simply because they know you as their leader are counting on the end result to meet–or exceed–the goal. So get out there, be excited! Go Team!